Take the figure facing the statue of Atlas: He peers upward, his elbow jutting out, his hand clasped around a camera. In one version of this image, he wears a blazer; in the other, a windbreaker, trilby and backpack.

When placed side-by-side, these photos — and others, all shot 68 years apart — resemble a trick mirror, changing black-and-white to color, suits to casualwear, film cameras to digital. Only the New York City backdrops — Rockefeller Center, Central Park or St. Patrick’s Cathedral — remain largely static.

The black-and-white pictures were shot for The New York Times Magazine by the staff photographer Sam Falk on April 2, 1951. The color ones are by Tony Cenicola, a current Times staff photographer, and were shot on April 2, 2019 (in addition to April 1 and 3). Together, they form an entirely unscientific experiment that asks: What does amateur photography look like today versus 68 years ago?

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The “Atlas” statue in Rockefeller Center. April 2, 1951; April 1, 2019.CreditSam Falk/The New York Times; Tony Cenicola/The New York Times